The course of reading for the first year was as follows: Green's Short History of the English People; with it the little hand-book by Dr. Vincent—Chautauqua Text-Book No. 4, Outline of English History; an arrangement by periods, enabling the reader to arrange the events in order; Chautauqua Text-Book No. 5, Outline of Greek History; Professor Mahaffy's Old Greek Life; Stopford Brooke's Primer of English Literature; Chautauqua Text-Book No. 2, Studies of the Stars; Dr. H. W. Warren's Recreations in Astronomy; J. Dorman Steele's Human Psychology; Dr. J. F. Hurst's, Outlines of Bible History, and The Word of God Opened, by Rev. Bradford K. Pierce. This included no less than eleven books, although four of them were the small Chautauqua textbooks, Nos. 2, 4, 5, and 6. All that was definitely required of the members was that they should sign a statement that these books had been read; but through the year a series of sheets was sent to each enrolled member, containing questions for examination, under the title "Outline Memoranda," in order not to alarm the unschooled reader by the terror of an examination. Moreover, the student was at liberty to search his books, consult any other works, and obtain assistance from all quarters in obtaining the answers to the questions. These questions were of two kinds, one requiring thought on the part of the reader, and not susceptible of answer at any given page of the book; such as: "Name the five persons whom you consider the greatest in the history of England, and the reasons for your choice," "Name what you regard as five of the most important events in English history," etc. There were some other questions, of which the answer might or might not be found in any books of the books of the course, but questions to make the reader search and enquire; such as: "What did King John say when he signed Magna Charta?" "With what words did Oliver Cromwell dismiss the Long Parliament?" "What were the last words of Admiral Nelson?" These questions brought difficulty, not only to readers, but to school-teachers, pastors, and librarians, to whom they were propounded by puzzled students. At one time I was reading of a convention of librarians, where one of the subjects discussed was, how to satisfy the hordes of Chautauquans everywhere, asking all sorts of curious questions. The veterans of that premier class of 1882 still remember the sheet of the Outline Memoranda prepared by Dr. Warren, on his book Recreations in Astronomy. There may have been a member or two who succeeded in answering them all, but their names do not appear on any record.
Not all those, who in an hour of enthusiasm under the spell of Dr. Vincent's address on that opening day, wrote their names as members of the C. L. S. C. persevered to the bitter end and won the diploma. Of the 8400 enrolled in the first class, only 1850 were "recognized" as graduates in 1882. Some of the delinquents afterward took heart of grace, and finished with later classes. But even those who fell out by the way gained something, perhaps gained an enduring impulse toward good reading. We frequently received word of those who had dropped the C. L. S. C. in order to obtain a preparation for college. Dr. Edward Everett Hale used to tell of a man whom he met on a railway train, who made a remark leading the doctor to say, "You talk like a Chautauquan—are you a member of the C. L. S. C.?" The man smiled and answered, "Well, I don't know whether I am or not. My wife is: she read the whole course, and has her diploma framed. I read only one book, and then gave up. But any institution that can lead a man to read Green's Short History of the English People, has done considerable for that man!"
As one by one the required books had been read by diligent members, there came urgent requests from many for the names of other books, on history, on sciences, and especially on the Bible. Dr. Vincent and his staff were compelled to look for the best books on special courses, supplementing the required course. By degrees almost a hundred of these courses were arranged, and have been pursued by multitudes. The one who read the regular course through four years was to receive a diploma; if he answered the questions of very simple "Outline Memoranda," his diploma was to bear one seal. If he took the stiffer "Outline Memoranda" described above, his diploma was to receive an additional seal for each year's work. Each special course was to have its own special seal. Any member who read the Bible through while pursuing the course, would have a gold crown seal upon his diploma. There were some elderly people who seemed to have nothing in the world to do, but to read special courses, fill out the memoranda, send for seals, and then demand another course on Crete or Kamchatka, or the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, until Miss Kimball, her helpers, and her literary friends were kept on the jump to find books on these various subjects. Hanging on the walls of C. L. S. C. classrooms at Chautauqua are diplomas illuminated with a hundred seals or more, sent to the class headquarters as memorials of diligent readers who have passed away.
The readers of these seal-courses become members of various "orders" of different rank. Those whose diplomas show four seals belong to the "Order of the White Seal," those who have seven seals, to the "League of the Round Table," and if they have fourteen seals or more, the "Guild of the Seven Seals." Each of these societies holds its annual reunion at Chautauqua, wears its own badge, and marches behind its own banner in the procession.
The reference to seals brings us to another feature of Chautauqua, and especially of the C. L. S. C., which attracted universal attention and led many thousands into the charmed circle,—those touches of poetry and sentiment, which no one but Dr. Vincent could have originated. There were the three mottoes of the C. L. S. C. always made prominent in its prospectus and announcements, "We Study the Word and the Works of God"; "Let Us Keep Our Heavenly Father in the Midst"; and "Never be Discouraged." The second of these sentences was spoken by the venerable Hebraist, Dr. Stephen H. Vail, as with tears upon his face he parted with Dr. Vincent, at the session of 1877, a year before the announcement of the C. L. S. C. There was for each class a name. The first class to take a name was that of '84, established in 1880. They were continually calling for class-meetings until Dr. Vincent in his announcements spoke of them as "those irrepressible eighty-fours!" Whereupon they promptly adopted as their name, "The Irrepressibles," and their example was followed by the other classes. The class of 1882 took the name, "The Pioneers." Classes are known as "The Vincent Class," "The Lewis Miller Class"—others are named after Shakespeare, Tennyson, Sidney Lanier, etc. The class graduating in 1892 commemorated the discovery of America four hundred years before, by the name "Columbia." Then, too, each class has its own flower, which its members seek to wear on the great days of the C. L. S. C.; but only the Pioneer class of 1882 proudly bears before it in procession a hatchet, and its members wear little hatchets as badges. Dr. Hale said that the reason why the Pioneers carry hatchets is that "they axe the way!" Each class has its own officers and trustees, and though all its members are never assembled, and can never meet each other, they maintain a strong bond of union through correspondence. There is the great silk banner of the Chautauqua Circle leading the procession on Recognition Day, followed by the classes from 1882 until the present, each class marching behind its banner. In the early days, until the Chautauqua grounds became crowded, there was an annual "Camp Fire," all the members in a great circle standing around a great bonfire at night singing songs and listening to short speeches. These are only a few of the social influences which make the C. L. S. C. more than merely a list of readers. It is a brotherhood, a family bound together by a common interest.
The opening day of the Chautauqua readings is October first. On that day at noon, the members of the circle living at Chautauqua and others in the adjacent towns meet at the Miller bell tower on the Point. As the clock sounds out the hour of twelve all present grasp a long rope connected with the bells and together pull it, over and over again, sounding forth the signal that the Chautauqua year has begun. It is said that every true Chautauquan the world over, from Mayville to Hong-Kong, can hear the sound of that bell and at the summons open their books for the year's reading.
In one of the earlier years we received at the office a letter from the wife of an army officer stationed among the Indians, and far from any settlement. She wrote that she was a hundred and twenty-five miles from any other white woman, and felt keenly her loneliness. But on the day when her bundle of C. L. S. C. books arrived, she clasped it to her bosom and wept tears of joy over it, for she felt that she was no longer alone, but one in a great company who were reading the same books and thinking the same thoughts and enjoying one fellowship.
In one of the early classes was a young lady who, soon after sending in her name, sailed for South Africa to become a teacher in a girl's boarding-school. One day in the following June, when it was in the depth of winter in South Africa,—for in south latitude our seasons are reversed; they have a saying at the Cape "as hot as Christmas"—she came to her classes arrayed in her very best apparel. The girls looked at her in surprise and asked "Is this your birthday?"
"No," she answered, "but it is the Commencement Day at Chautauqua in America, and everybody dresses up on that day!"
The thousands of readers in the Chautauqua fellowship naturally arranged themselves in two classes. About half of them were reading by themselves, individuals, each by himself or herself,—mostly herself, for at least three-fourths of the members were women, and their average age was about thirty years. The other half were united in groups, "local circles," as they were called. Some of these were community circles, people of one village or town, irrespective of church relations; other circles were connected with the churches. In those days before the Christian Endeavor Society, the Epworth League, and other nation-wide organizations had appropriated the interest of the young people, the Chautauqua Circle was the literary society in many churches.